Modern gasoline and diesel engines are much more efficient and less polluting than similar engines of even a few years ago. However, due to the increased number of vehicles in use, levels of air pollution continue to rise even in light of more efficient and clean running vehicles. Therefore, there has been increasing pressure to develop vehicles which have lower emissions, and thus are less polluting than conventional automotive technology permits.
For example, under certain government "Clean Air" legislation, a certain number of vehicles are required to be emission free. This legislation has put pressure on OEM's to develop alternate fuel technologies including electric cars and vans, natural gas and propane fuelled vehicles, hydrogen cell vehicles and the like. While a number of these technologies are promising, some are still a long way from commercial implementation, and others appear to have reached the limit of present design capabilities without yielding a consumer acceptable product. Therefore, attention has refocused on conventional gas and diesel burning engines, to try to develop a more pollution free and efficient combustion system.
In the past, it has been discovered that the use of hydrogen and oxygen as a fuel additive increases the efficiency of an internal combustion engine and reduces pollution considerably. Both advantages appear to be the byproduct of faster flame speed that is as much as 9 times that of gasoline, resulting in more complete combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber, with the resultant reduction in soot (semi-bumt hydrocarbons) and other pollutants such as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, and an increase in output energy for a greater fuel efficiency and horsepower.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,954, which issued on Aug. 3, 1993, teaches an electrolysis cell for use in connection with a combustion engine for generating hydrogen and oxygen gases which are added to the fuel delivery system as a supplement to the gasoline or other hydrocarbons burned therein. While this patent proposes an electrolysis unit which is relatively simple and easy to install, this prior device has a number of problems which require considerable maintenance and lead to higher costs associated with installing and using the device.
This patent teaches a low concentration of electrolyte, by weight, which is created by pre-mixing and pre-charging a concentrate for 24 hours. This results in a higher resistance electrolysis cell which can be connected directly to a conventional vehicle battery. In the context of consumer applications, it is too awkward to do this pre-charging and mixing. In addition, since the resistance of the solution is relatively high, a high amount of heat is created in the cell during use, which can be problematic.
The preferred form of the electrolysis chamber taught by this patent is a plastic walled chamber, into which the terminals are sealed. The terminals project from the lower side of the plastic shell of the electrolysis cell itself.
The unit comes on when the motor is turned on and the cell, and in particular the terminals, tend to heat up considerably. Under the continual heating and cooling cycling the seals around terminals can crack leading to a loss of seal integrity and leaks. This requires more frequent replenishment of the electrolyte, and a loss of function. In addition, the electrodes of this prior device extend about two thirds to three quarters of the way to the top of the device. Thus, there is not much free board of solution above the top of the electrode which is disadvantageous. After only a short period of operation, parts of the electrodes become exposed, creating a need for addition of distilled water. This requires frequent replenishment of the fluid, which is awkward and time consuming. Further there is always a risk, when the electrodes are exposed, of a spark causing an explosion of the highly combustible gases in the unit.
In addition, the patent teaches that the gases produced in the electrolysis chamber be introduced directly into the PVC vacuum line used for circulating crank case gases to the intake manifold so that oxygen and hydrogen generated in the electrolysis cell are withdrawn by the vacuum effect in the vacuum line.
This has been found to be problematic. The introduction of the gases into the PVC vacuum line creates considerable problems for modem engines. Such engines typically include sensors for monitoring input air quality (the so called "MAP" or mass air pressure sensors) which provide output to a microprocessor which can for example adjust the fuel input to the engine accordingly. Additional sensors monitor the combustion outputs. Introducing these additional gases into the PVC means that they are put in downstream of the MAP sensors which creates an imbalance, fooling the microprocessor and causing the engine to misfire and behave poorly. Thus, in some cases, introduction of the gases creates a worse polluting engine. Considerable adjustment of the microprocessor controller is required to make resolve this issue, which increases installation and servicing costs.